Green-eyed

Burleigh House was built in 1587. Willam Cecil was Lord High Treasurer of England and earthly presence of Elisabeth I. He paid £21,000 to build it - pretty much what I paid for my first house, so I feel a connection - but it was his grandfather, a Welshman, who settled in Stamford almost a century earlier and bought the estate where the house now dominates

It is so close that we simply walked out of our front door and ambled up there for coffee (in the 'Orangery' - so long that my picture shows lines convering to a distant point). The house is an absurd collection of domes, towers, chimneys and mullions, designed with the primary purpose of demonstrating affluence. It is of unimaginable size - I can't think of a similie - simply jaw-dropping. We did not engage; the prospect of tramping round its state-rooms, looking at multitude after multitude of Renaissance paintings was more than we could face

Instead, we restricted (!) ourselves to 600 hectares of parkland (mostly planted with lime and oak, which becomes surprisingly monotonous after a while), 15 hectares of gardens and 'pleasure grounds', and 10 hectares of lake, dug by hand. These days, 400 years after its construction, the whole lot is administered by a charitable trust, which provides plausible deniability when handing them money

It truth, we had a lovely day. The modern gardens have humour, taste, innovative planting, lots of areas left ragged for wildlife, smart ideas to engage with young people, and a relaxed, cheerful atmosphere. Part of it is intermixed with sculpture - not earth-shattering but, again, good-humoured and entertaining. This is possibly the most effective and most-photographed piece, but not everyone gets a red cagoule